WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



stinctive knowledge of the range of shot, will keep always 

 just out of reach, and frequently carry off before your very 

 face the partridge you have flushed, and perhaps wounded. 

 There is a diversity of opinion whether the hawk com- 

 monly called the ringtail is the female of the hen-harrier. I 

 have, however, no doubt at all on the subject. The ringtail 

 is nothing more than the female or young bird. The male 

 does not put on his blue and white plumage till he is a year 

 old. I have frequently found the nest both on themountain, 

 where they build in a patch of rough heather, generally by 

 the side of a burn, and also in a furze-bush. Though very 

 destructive to grouse and other game, this bird has one 

 redeeming quality, which is, that he is a most skilful rat- 

 catcher. Skimming silently and rapidly through a rick- 

 yard, he seizes on any incautious rat who may be exposed 

 to view; and from the habit this hawk has of hunting very 

 late in the evening, many of these vermin fall to his share. 

 Though of so small and lightaframe.the hen-harrierstrikes 

 down a mallard without difficulty; and the marsh and 

 swamp are his favourite hunting-grounds. Quick enough 

 to catch a snipe, and strong enough to kill a mallard, noth- 

 ing escapes him. Although so courageous in pursuit ofgame, 

 he is a wild, untamable bird in captivity;and though I have 

 sometimes endeavoured to tame one, I could never succeed 

 in rendering him at all familiar. As he disdains to eat any 

 animal not killed by himself, he is a very difficult bird to 

 trap. The best chance of catching him is in what is called a 

 pole-trap, placed on a high post in the middle of an open 

 part of the country;forthis hawk has(incommon with many 

 others) the habit of perching on upright railings and posts, 



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